Land o' Lakes

Hello all! Well, obviously Chad and I didn't get a real blog entry written last week, and we hope you forgive us. It's been a busy week, full of studying, family time, friends, the stomach flu, and more studying. I avoided the worst of the stomach flu, but the rest of the Graham family wasn't so lucky. Chad and I went to Ankeny this past weekend for a very belated Christmas celebration with the Gast crew. We went to a place called Incredible Pizza, which is a child's dream come true. The little ones ran around playing arcade type games, riding go-karts, and even playing some indoor mini-golf. Sadly Tim and Gail had to stay home since they were so sick.

Some of Chad's lovely cousins and aunts and uncles!

Chad's brother Brad playing mini-golf with

sons Ethan and Noah

This is Nora, Derek and Jessica's

beautiful 3 month old baby girl!

On Sunday, Chad returned to Iowa City, and I started the trek up north to see my twin Drew. I stopped in St. Paul for the night, and our friends Dan and Whitney let me crash on their couch. It's always great to see them, and the next morning they showed me around downtown St. Paul, since most of my time in the Twin Cities has been spent in Minneapolis! There was a winter carnival going on, which featured lots of ice sculptures, including unicorns, a bowling bear, and a giant Lego man. They also took me to a pretty awesome old-timey candy store, called Candyland.

A sculptor working on a scene from the highly

addictive game Angry Birds

Dan and Whitney showing off the candy selection.

I actually bought a bag of the "squirrel turds" which

turned out to be chocolate covered pretzels with a peanut

butter filling. Best squirrel turds ever!

This is the Fitzgerald Theater, where

A Prairie Home Companion is broadcast!

I headed up to Duluth on Monday afternoon, and have been enjoying spending time with Drew and Bettina in their beautiful home. You can see Lake Superior from their living room window! It's my first visit to Duluth, and I have to say, I was expecting it to be colder. :-) Eh, it's been a warm winter... We're going on the hunt for snow a little further to the north over the next few days. We went to Bettina's parents' house tonight for a fun and delicious family dinner, and I found out that Bettina's mom actually studied in Frankfurt (she was a German professor)! We had a good time reminiscing over the Grüne Soße, and I think I should come back in the spring for a special Grüne Soße dinner. :-)

Drew and Bettina - happy times in Duluth!

I go back to Iowa on Friday, and I hope my hubby is feeling completely healthy by then! It was a bad week to get sick, since he has a paper due on Thursday... At least I'm not around to distract him! Although, I do wish I could have been there to nurse him back to health. I'll have to save some squirrel turds for him to make it up to him. ;-) Have a great week all!